title: Evolution of the cognitive profile in school-aged patients with severe TBI during the first 2 years of neurorehabilitation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Persistent post-injury cognitive, academic and behavioural deficits have been documented in children who sustained severe TBI during the school-age years. The major aim of this study was to examine and follow-up for 2 years the cognitive profile of a sample of post-injured patients (aged 6-16.11), in order to verify to what extent they recovered their intellectual functions after rehabilitation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-six patients who received a specific neuropsychological treatment and three cognitive evaluations with WISC-III were selected from a pool of 77.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This group of patients showed a mild cognitive deficit at baseline, which improved over the 2 years to a borderline level. Despite the improvement in intellectual quotients and single sub-test scores achieved through rehabilitation, different recovery times were seen according to the function under study. The most common deficits are in processing speed, inferential and lexical-semantic skills.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Detailed analysis of the WISC-III sub-tests allows for an accurate description of single cognitive functions after TBI. This allows one to make differential diagnoses between functional profiles and plan individualized rehabilitation treatments. Post-injured school-aged patients should receive rehabilitation for a period of at least 2 years, which is the time necessary for an at-least partial reorganization of basic cognitive functions.
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Eugenio Medea , Bosisio Parini (LC) , Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bardoni
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galbiati
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Recla
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pastore
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Formica
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Strazzer
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011340:Problem Solving; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012660:Semantics; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors